At Autoweek, we love our readers and they love us. It’s a bromance, though many are not bros but sistahs. Regardless, same love.

Once a year for the last six years, we have celebrated that two-way street with the Autoweek/ZF Fantasy Camp, where 20 readers join several of us editors and a race driver or two to spend a weekend driving some great cars and having some terrific meals.

This whole affair came about because, over the years, many readers have said something like, “Man, you guys have the best jobs in the world!” or “I could do your job!” Both are probably true, but there are only so many open slots at Autoweek HQ. So the chance to be a car writer only comes up once a year in this fun, fulfilling event.

Driver change time in the Dodge Charger SRT Hellcat at Sonoma Raceway Photo by Trevor Thompson

This year, we held Fantasy Camp in Northern-California wine country and its twisting two-lanes and on fabulous Sonoma Raceway. We chose sport sedans you could actually drive every day and not have to wear a kidney belt. Alphabetically the cars were:

Having already tested them ourselves, we can safely say any one of these autos would be an excellent, comfy-smooth daily driver; we’ve said as much in Autoweek’s pages and on autoweek.com. Fantasy Camp gives readers a chance to try them and have a voice. Think Readers’ Choice.

The Autoweek audience is savvy: According to our market research, you have owned over your lifetimes 20 cars on average and have in your garages between four and five cars at a given time. You love cars and have the means to go beyond dreaming to actually pursuing that passion. Most campers were racers in every discipline from the Daytona 24 Hours to NHRA to SCCA. Most have a particular car they love—Ferraris, Corvettes, Cobras, Porsches… Professions ranged from financial planning to neurology (yes it is brain surgery).

Cadillac ATS-V finishing another hot lap

Campers proved infinitely more interesting to talk to than we are; happens every year.

“This is a very cool event,” said Pruett at the dinner, before going on to tell stories ranging from winning Daytona to meeting his 1986 IMSA GTO teammate Bruce Jenner well before he made his most recent, um, news.

The next day started with two drivers in each car for street driving. All campers had notebooks and took notes, just like real car writers are supposed to. They got a chance from both the driver’s and the passenger’s seats to check out interiors and rate them on everything from roominess and ambience to seat comfort and material quality. Infotainment/nav systems generally took a hit.

“All of the infotainment/navigation systems take the driver’s focus away from the task at hand: driving and paying attention to the roads,” said Bruce Beamer, echoing many campers. “Drivers are already distracted by their mobile devices, no need to add more things to take eyes off the road.”

For cabin comforts, Mercedes, Audi and BMW were strong—no surprise. In the end, the Cadillac ATS-V won the combined interior and exterior scorecard.

The drive portion started early in the morning and campers rotated between the cars on winding routes, finishing at Sonoma. There they alternated between an autocross course in the parking lot and driving hot laps of the famously challenging circuit.

How was it? To quote the character Nux in the car-centric blockbuster “Mad Max Fury Road,” “What a day, what a lovely day!”

There were really no cars readers didn’t like, both on the road and at the track. Even the Chrysler 300C Platinum, more a road cruiser than track car, had its good points.

“The raw power of this car actually allowed this land yacht to compete in this lineup,” said camper JimBo Gulley. “With some extra coaxing, the 300 actually moved through the autocross in a competitive manner and it floated down the track at a fast pace.”

The TLX, Mercedes C400 and Infiniti Q50S proved fun and somewhat tossable. Meanwhile, Pruett was gunning around the track in the Lexus IS350 F Sport.

The cream rises to the top, as they say, and the Chevrolet SS’ unadorned exterior styling allows it to slip unnoticed through city streets and open highways, but then the car unleashes an impressive 415 hp from its mighty 6.2-liter V8. One camper called the Chevy “a delightful surprise and was the second-best car for me after the M3.” Another Autoweek staff favorite, the Audi S4, scored high in just about every category, from interior to looks to performance. “Wonderful power and brakes,” said John Morris. “I felt in control the whole time. Best car for me on the autocross.”

Gulley was more succinct about the M3’s virtues: “Sex on wheels!” he said.

Then there was the Hellcat. Oh man, the Hellcat. The car’s 707 hp overwhelmed everything and everybody.

“Hellcat was awesome,” said camper Ron Rodgers. “The sound and fury are spectacular.”

“Hellcat has 282 hp more than the next-closest car in the group and that’s 282 fun tokens,” said Dan Johnson. “Loved the sound, loved the power, loved the brutal grace.”

And finally, the Cadillac ATS-V. We’ve said recent Cadillacs can “…take on the best European performance sedans.” Well, here is one that is not only able but more than takes them on. To our readers, it trounced them. With 455 hp and 445 lb ft of torque the twin-turbo ATS-V. With readers giving points for interior, exterior, ride and handling as well as intangibles like value, significance and “…fun, fun, fun,” the ATS-V flat overwhelmed all comers

“Awesome power and response,” said Ron Grove. “Fun car! I want one!”

“Biggest (positive) surprise!” said Ken Holmes.

“Best car overall,” was Ron Rodgers’ opinion. “Best combination of all elements by far. Much more than I expected. So impressed I might buy one.”

Thankfully, all campers left happy, and as we said, we were at least as impressed with them.

Surely after reading this, you want in on next year’s fun. So become an Autoweek advisor and sign up for the Fantasy Camp lottery and you could spend a weekend driving great cars around a great racetrack, too. Look forward to meeting you!

Editor's note: Fantasy Camp is only offered to Autoweek Advisors. If you're not an Advisor yet, sign up here. It's fast, easy and totally free!

A proper end to a lovely day

Mark Vaughn
- After working in Europe five years covering F1, Group C and DTM, Vaughn interviewed with Autoweek at the 1989 Frankfurt motor show and has been with us ever since.
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